Between the Stitches

Springy Birch

The weather here in Connecticut finally decided to start feeling like Spring, just in time for the wedding  I went to on Saturday.  After the incredibly cold and wet weather we had for the past few weeks this was a welcome change.  You couldn't ask for a nicer day, my friends really lucked out for their wedding.  I was grateful as I was convinced all last week that I was going to freeze wearing my new dress, and that maybe I had better come up with some kind of a contingency plan for a backup dress.  Luckily no back up was necessary, and all I needed was my new Birch,  which was just the light cover I needed for my shoulders with the a/c at the reception.

I apologize for the quality of the pictures.  I was expecting two of my friends to be at the wedding and have one of them take a few pictures for me but one got stuck working, and the other never bothered to tell me she wasn't going.  I ended up at at a table with a bunch of people I didn't know.  (Note to self - you must find someone to drag along as a date to these things.)  The couple sitting next to me was quite nice, but overall it's still rough being at that table with the miscellaneous group of people.  A few of my good male friends were at a different table, but I didn't want to try to explain why I needed them to take pictures of me with my shawl.  I used the timer on the camera when I got home.  They aren't the best but they'll do.


The  back view of Birch.  I was happy that the seam I was so concerned about really just blended in against my dress.  If I turned it around so that the wrong side was facing out it barely showed at all.

And a few shots of how Birch looked with the front of my dress.  With my favorite sunglasses -

And without -

Birch, Rowan 24, Designed by Sharon Miller
Knit with 2.5 skeins (250 yards each) of Louet Kidlin Pixie (49% Linen, 35% Mohair, 16% Nylon) in Rose Bloom (04) on Clover Bamboo Straights.

Pattern Notes - I'm really happy with how my Birch came out.  I'm very glad that I chose to make this Birch using Julia's modifications.  Her notes on how to adapt the pattern are easy to follow.  I followed her modifications with just two changes.  The first was that although I didn't work the regular decreases at the end of each right side row, I still needed to work the decrease on row 8 (the only decrease on the purl row) in order to keep the shape of the pattern correct. I'd work the decrease on the last two purl stitches, and then knit the last three that I was using as a border.  On the next row (row 1 of the pattern) I work across until I had the three border stitches left on the needle and then increase one stitch before knitting the last three stitches.  Without working this decrease and increase the leaves formed in the pattern would pull wonky to one side and didn't look right.

The only other change I made was to work my two pieces about 10 inches longer on each side.  Mine measured about 30" or so before blocking.  This was by accident, I was on a roll knitting and forgot to keep measuring, but in the end I was happy it ended up being longer.  I love a shawl you can really wrap yourself up in.

Yarn Notes - This was my first time using Kidlin Pixie and I found it to be an acceptable substitute for Kidsilk Haze.  It's not as soft as Kidsilk, but still feels decadent, and the linen in it gives the same hazy appearance that Kidsilk does.  It was a bit cheaper than Kidsilk Haze, but not significantly so.  (Especially as you only need 3 balls of it.)  The color range worked better for me for this project.  It's a very strong yarn too without looking like it.  Don't try to break this without scissors!  I like that even though the shawl looks fragile and delicate it's not.

Check out Julia's notes on Birch for more help.  She's got great hints there, and it would be silly for me to just reiterate them.

First FO 2007

I actually finished something this year!!!  I finished Birch on Friday night, but had to hold off on blocking it until yesterday because I had company over the weekend.  Here's a picture of it pinned out on my floor.  I'll get a better completed picture of it this weekend at the wedding.

I'll give some more detailed notes when I post a better picture, but overall I love the modifications  of my long Birch shawl.  I did screw up and bind the two pieces off on the wrong side so the seam is really apparent, but I can live with it.  I tried to tink back and fix it, but I was causing more damage than what I was fixing so I left it.

Here is a closeup of the pattern detail:

I promise more details later!  I'm so excited I finished this week with plenty of time to spare.  Heck I didn't even have to rush.

The Need for New Yarn

I don't know where the time this year has been flying to, but it has definitely been getting away from me.  My new job has been keeping me exhausted.  I'm not the world's best morning person so getting up and having myself on the 6.30am train is really difficult.  Last week I was so beat that I overslept 3 days.  Luckily I was able to catch the next train at 6.50 which still gets me to work at time, but my goal this week is to break that habit.  I don't want to get used to taking the later train.  I like having it there for emergency purposes.  The exception rather than the rule.  So far so good.  Woke up right on time today.  I just need to be sure I get to bed at a reasonable hour tonight.

The one bad thing is that I've been so tired I haven't been able to do much knitting on the train.  I try, but after knitting only a row or two I start feeling the eyelids get incredibly heavy that I have to put it away.  (I've been taking lots of power naps on the train).  I've still managed to get some good knitting time in though on my lunch hour and while watching tv.  I've put Rapunzel on hold temporarily so I could start this:

Lace.  Birch from Rowan #34 to be exact.  I have a wedding to go to at the end of the month and had bought this dress from Newport News to wear to it.

Aren't you all surprised I bought a dress for an event and didn't drive all of you nuts asking for opinions on dresses?  It was one really nice bonus of losing weight that it was much easier to find a dress.  I got the catalog in the mail, saw this, and had to have it.  No hunting around trying to find something from one of the few plus-sized retailers.  Open a catalog and order something.  Love it!

The only problem is that this shows a lot more skin than I am used to exposing.  I was a little unsure about the spagetti straps, and the low cut of the front but it looks beautiful on and feels secure.  I just need to get over a few minor insecurites about my body.  It cried out for a nice wrap though.  April is an iffy month around here in Connecticut.  I could be a beautiful spring day or freezing.  I bought the wrap that Newport News sold that matched the dress, but it's the same sheer lightweight material as the dress.  No warmth at all to it.  It is also very tiny.  I wanted something I could wrap around myself.  I contemplated borrowing the Birch Shawl that I had made for my mother two years ago, but it was light green and really didn't go.  (Okay to be honest the light green looked fine with the dress, but I really wanted to buy new yarn).

I had plans to meet up with an old college friend two weeks ago after work, so after she had to postpone our meeting at the last minute, I took advantage of the chance to take the subway down to lower Manhattan to do some yarn shopping.  I was a bit nervous about this, as my sole foreay on the subway in NY has been to Union Square Park and back for the NY Yarn-Out, and from Harlem to Yankee Stadium.  I wasn't even sure exactly how to get to the shops I wanted to hit (The Point and Purl) as I had only been to them once before with Susie, and we had walked there.  Luckily I found this site that has a wonderful interactive subway map that tells you which subway to take to get between any two points in New York.  It got me exactly where I needed to go, so I recommend it.  The only problem is that it doesn't give you any walking directions to get from the subway station to your location.  Once I got my bearings though on which was was North and South I was fine and got to both locations with relatively no problems.

I went to The Point first and looked around a bit before heading over to Purl.  I had originally planned on using Kidsilk Haze as I just adore the stuff, but none of the colors looked quite right with the color of the dress.  Even the whites and off-whites didn't quite look right with the dress.  I had the same issues with the Kid Seta yarn I tried too.  Nothing was quite right.  I had been hoping that someone would have carried Douceur et Soie.  I had gone online and seen that they carry a great coral color that might have matched the dress exactly, but alas no one had it.  Nothing was quite right, and I was just about to give up, go home and order some Douceur et Soie online (or at least wate until I could try Knitting Central in Westport).

Then I saw this, and while I hadn't planned on using pink with a coral dress I actually liked the way this looks with it.  It's Louet's Kidlin Pixie in Rose Bloom.  While the KidSilk Haze pinks looked all wrong with the coral, the undertones of the Kidlin  complement it nicely.  Kidlin is a mohair/linen/nylon blend that is amazingly strong.  (Found this out the hard way when I went to break a strand of yarn).  While it's not quite as decedently soft and luxurious as KidSilk Haze, it is still fairly soft and gives off a similar hazy appearance.  I'm anxious to see how it blocks out in the end.

I also chose to try Julia's modifications to Birch to make an oblong/rectanglish wrap instead of a triangle.  Both my Charlotte's are triangles, as was the Birch I made for my mother, but for this I really wanted something long.  I finished the first piece in less than a week, and am now working on the second piece.  It shouldn't be long before I'm back to finishing up those Rapunzel sleeves.  I don’t foresee any problems finishing on time for once.  I love the Birch pattern.  It's so easy to memorize and is simple enough that I can work on it while on the train.  Since this is a rectangle shape, I never had to worry about those huge long 200 stitch rows either.  The rows are the perfect length.  I can finish one up fairly quickly so that I can end a row if my stop is coming up.

My goal is to finish the second piece this weekend.  I'll post finished pictures as soon as I do.